In This Issue:
Featured Feminists Jaina Alexander and April Sigman-Marx
A Beginner's Guide to Voter Suppression
Interviews with our Parents on Voting
Shoutout to SATA
Featured Feminists:
This week, we are featuring the Artistic Directors of Thumbprint Studios, a Chicago-based acting studio currently offering classes and workshops over zoom.
Check out their website to read their blog, see what's upcoming, and sign up for "Thumbprint Listens and Reads" on August 3rd to discuss El Grito del Bronx by Migdalia Cruz. https://www.thumbprintstudios.org/
April Sigman-Marx is a Chicago based actor, director, writer and educator with a BFA in Musical Theatre, an MFA in Acting & Performance Pedagogy and a teacher training certificate from MICHA: The Michael Chekhov Association. Additionally, she is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA, the Dramatists Guild, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME) and TYA-USA.
Fervent about individualized performance education, particularly amongst emerging artists—April formed youth performing arts academy Take the Stage Productions (2012-2019), taught Acting and Musical Theatre at California State University, Long Beach (2016-2019) and is a Founding Artistic Director of Thumbprint Studios.
Specializing in new work development, April has created/ written, directed, produced and performed in several solo shows, web series, films and plays--Many of which focus on social justice issues. She is a strong believer in creating the work you are interested in verses waiting for someone to give you permission to create.
Select new works developed: Birth (creator/ choreographer/ performer, New World Rep) Permed (playwright/ director/ performer, Tower Theatre & Uptown Theatre) The Downhome Divas (creator/ writer/ producer/ host), Pathways (creator/ performer- currently in development), Rover the Bear new play workshop production (playwright/ director, Cal Rep. Affinity Series)
Recent directing credits include: Sheepdog world premiere (Assistant Director to Leah C Gardiner, South Coast Repertory.), Antigone X (Assistant Director to Jeff Janisheski, California Repertory) Descending Harmony (Short Film, 1st. Assistant Director to Scott Keiffer Johnson, Organ Grinder Media)
Select acting credits: King Lear (Regan, ZJU Theatre), Machinal (Young Woman/ Helen Jones, Cal Rep.), Shakespeare Tour: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew (Ophelia, Juliet, Kate, Gable Stage), Making Up History (Julia, DC Fringe Festival), Beastly Beauty (Lynette, Clark Street Theatre), Poetics: a devised theatre piece (Yockadot Theatre Festival), City of Angels (Alaura/ Carla, New World Repertory), Country Music Review (Featured Singer, Johnny High’s Music Revue), For Carly (Lead, Short Film, C & I Studios), Open Door (Lead, Feature Film, Sapling Pictures), Heaven Burns (Supporting, Feature Film, StrataTek Studios)
Jaina Alexander is a Chicago based singer, actor, and educator with a BM in Music Performance, is an Estill Master Teacher candidate with Estill Voice Training, and working towards her teacher training certificate from MICHA: The Michael Chekhov Association. Additionally, she is a proud member of the Voice and Speech Teachers Association (VASTA) and the Pan-American Vocology Association (PAVA).
A passionate advocate for meeting students where they are, she works towards cultivating confident, individualized voices. Her teaching encompasses tools to address physical, mental, and artistic health so that anyone who uses their voice can make fearless choices. She is a Founding Artistic Director of Thumbprint Studios which strives to provide inclusive, embodied, empowered performance training and is currently open to all students online.
While her higher education was primarily focused on classical voice, Jaina has searched out further techniques to expand her training and now works the majority of time in musical theatre and as a chorister in many choirs around Chicago. She is a big proponent of collaboration across artistic genres and loves incorporating dance, circus, and spoken word performances into cabarets and recitals.
Select acting credits: Lily (Secret Garden, Manchester Rep.), Chorus (Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom, South Shore Opera Company), Vi Moore (Footloose, Manchester Rep.), Fantine (Les Miserable, WACT), Susanna (Up North Vocal Institute)
She has been a singer with Lola Bard Holiday Carolers for the past 3 years. Has sung with the Illinois Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the Defiant Requiem Foundation, and as a backup singer for the Rolling Stones.
A Beginner’s Guide to Voter Suppression
By Rory Smith
“I have been beaten, my skull fractured, and arrested more than forty times so that each and every person has the right to register and vote. Friends of [mine] gave their lives. Do your part. Get out there and vote like you’ve never voted before.” - Rep. John Lewis (February 21, 1940 - July 17, 2020)
Voter suppression threatens our democracy and our right to free and fair elections, but this phenomenon is nothing new. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, outlawed the discriminatory practices adopted by Southern states to prevent Black people from casting a vote, including poll taxes and literacy tests. In 2013, the Supreme Court invalidated a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, which provides that states and localities with a history of racial discrimination must get permission from the federal government before enacting any changes to voting laws. Emboldened by this decision, many states on that former “preclearance” list swiftly enacted laws that voting rights advocates describe as discriminatory, as they disproportionately affect minorities and poor people: strict photo ID laws, precinct closures, and limited access to early voting, same-day voter registration, and mail-in ballots. Georgia is a perfect example. In the 2020 primary, with social distancing guidelines in place and many precincts closed, thousands of Georgian voters had to wait several hours, sometimes the entire day before being able to cast their vote. Many left before they were able to.
Voter suppression is inherently racist in nature. It seeks to replicate Jim Crow laws in covert ways, using race-neutral language to depress minority voter turnout. These laws are designed to make it more difficult to vote by increasing the amount of travel and time involved in registration and voting, and as a result, they impact low-income, working class, and BIPOC voters. On top of that, 6.1 million Americans are forbidden from voting due to felony disenfranchisement, the restriction of voting rights for convicted felons. Due to the disproportionate incarceration of Black people in this country, that translates to an alarming statistic: 1 in 13 Black Americans has lost the right to vote due to felony disenfranchisement.
What does this all mean for this November?
In a pandemic, access to voting by mail is essential in keeping Americans safe and ensuring that every eligible voter is able to have a voice. Donald Trump and those affiliated with his campaign are working to spread the narrative that widespread access to voting by mail will lead to voter fraud. This is a myth; over the last 20 years, only 0.0006% of all mail-in ballots cast have been considered fraudulent. In fact, this year the Republican National Committee and two other groups filed a lawsuit against Governor Newsom over his plan to mail absentee ballots to every eligible voter in California. Many of the same donors funding the RNC’s legal efforts are the same donors funding Trump’s flagging re-election campaign. These millionaires and billionaires aren’t interested in protecting the integrity of the election system, they’re interested in protecting their own positions of privilege and power, which a second Trump term would guarantee them.
The GOP desire to depress voter turnout is indicative of a racist and corrupt desire to silence thousands of Americans’ voices. Any democracy is corrupted when only some of its citizens are allowed to participate, and it makes voting a less effective tool for voicing the people’s demands. As the late Toni Morrison said, “…just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, your job is to empower somebody else.” So, if you are eligible to vote in November, vote. Make sure you are registered. Vote by mail if you possibly can. Use your voice to help those who are not allowed to use theirs. My personal recommendation is to familiarize yourself with Angela Davis’ decades of activist and academic work, and to listen to her take on the upcoming general election:
“I don’t see this election as being about choosing a candidate who will be able to lead us in the right direction. It will be about choosing a candidate who can be most effectively pressured into allowing more space for the evolving anti-racist movement.”
Voter suppression would not exist if our votes were not powerful enough to scare those attempting to suppress them.
Sources:
Interviews with Our Parents About Voting
Interviewer: Rachel Post
Interviewee: Gwen Post
Relationship: Mother
Tell me about your first experience with voting.
I turned eighteen on September 11th, 1976 and... I was immensely proud and excited to get a chance to vote….Two months later I voted for Jimmy Carter and I was ecstatic when he won. And I thought, “Oh well that proves somehow that my vote matters”. It was like my first win. I thought, “Well, oh, okay. Voting works.” I began to think otherwise later on.
What made you think otherwise?
Well, the elections that followed. So I voted for Carter in ‘76 and then watched through his presidency. I was actually probably the- well, you know there was actually stuff leading up to that election. You think about it, for anyone who came up during the 70’s, the three years that came before that election was Nixon being impeached, so that’s what the atmosphere was throughout my entire high school career. You know, it made it to our yearbook, you know pictures of people saying, “Impeach Nixon” So there was a real cloud over the presidency already.
There was a real feeling of distrust in the whole process. But I still, you know, coming up in a family that well, voting was like considered your moral duty, there was a big press to vote. And actually, I’d say my experience with voting, in a sense, happened back long before I could vote when Eugene McCarthy ran for president. I know you’re not going to believe this but your grandfather and grandmother had all of us out canvassing going door to door for Eugene McCarthy. I wasn’t very old but I was there with mom and dad and we were basically handing people pamphlets and saying, “Are you planning to vote?” and, “Are you registered to vote?” So there was that sense of duty and that sense of already being involved. I think because my parents modeled it, it was like in my blood. And I think it shocked- actually it shocked me when I met your father to find out that he didn’t vote. He’d skipped all kinds of elections saying, “Oh, I don’t believe in that stuff.” To me that was, like, a moral sin because that’s the way it was drummed into me.
How else did their beliefs influence yours?
Well I did my report on Gloria Steinem in middle school and my father rewrote the report to say what he wanted to say. She was my hero. And she was secretly still my hero even though my father hated her. So I mostly just kind of stayed away from that for a while because it brought up personal shit and I bet you I’m not the only female on this planet that has a similar story like that where whatever was taught in their household meant one thing and it took a long time to where you had a voice again. Later, in my household there was a lot of vociferous complaining about the ERA and the people behind it. So whatever I thought or felt I kept to myself. And it wasn’t until some time after I moved out that it felt safe to say anything again.
Was there ever a time where you voted and regretted who you voted for?
Um, well yes and no. I voted for Clinton both times. When I voted for Clinton I was pretty displeased with, well mostly the affair and the lying about the affair and frankly as it’s come to pass it really denigrated the presidency to the point where you could actually have someone like Donald Trump. I think Bill Clinton is in some significant way responsible for Donald Trump because we kept him even though he clearly lied. So let’s see. So in ‘76 it was Carter. In ‘80 we got Reagan and actually I can tell you that somewhere in that election year, somewhere in the archives on a - both a cassette tape and probably a vinyl 45 you’ll find a recording that I made of a song that Michelle wrote the words to and I wrote the music to called, “Don't’ Push the Button, Ronnie!”
Oh I think you told me about that one before.
I was pretty disappointed that a boob like Ronald Reagan could get elected. I thought that was the worst idea in the world, about tantamount to hiring a reality star for the hardest job on the planet. It was about the same thing for us then. That was his claim to fame, and he was head of the Screen Actors’ Guild. So you should remember that. All kinds of people can run your organizations. So that was eight years of Reagan and trickle down economics that didn’t seem to work for us so I was glad to vote for um, well no actually let’s see, Bush came in after Reagan. So it was four years of Bush and that was agony and we got involved in Iran then and it just, I mean, everything seemed to turn to shit. And then Clinton. And I think by the second time through I was not that thrilled that I was voting for him and not someone else but because I understood it as my duty to vote and because in my mind it means that that duty was so important I felt it my responsibility to choose the best person no matter what even if I didn’t think they were good or that they had serious flaws or that there was someone else better to do the job. I felt as though, given a choice between A and B, I couldn’t pick C because by then I actually did understand how the electoral college worked.
So how do you stay informed?
I used to just slog through those voting guides. They used to be at least just 100 pages long with paper thin paper and I made myself read every single page I possibly could. I’d read the arguments and the counter arguments and the counterarguments to the counterarguments and you know I was so [type A] with that that it really got to be a drag. And I’d finish it and say, “I still don’t know enough about these issues. You’d have to be doing what I’m doing now which is like doom scrolling and reading every single bit of news. And I just realized it actually really disappointed me immensely that I couldn’t actually keep up with world news and politics to feel as though I was a truly informed voter.
So I started relying on recommendations from groups that I appreciated their work or looking at recommendations from groups that I didn’t and then voting the totally opposite way and then sometimes just totally voting my own way on some issues.
Well, I would have to say that at a certain point voting felt more like a burden than either a right or a responsibility. I felt more like it was really out of my control to understand it and I was relying on other people’s opinion which I didn’t really know that much about. You ask if I ever didn’t vote in an election and I always vote in elections but there have been times where I don’t vote on every issue.
I have done the same thing when I don’t feel informed enough. Right. And I have to say that because it has become such a burden, I will put off reading about stuff until far too late in the process to really ask good questions along the way. And I realized, especially with the shit that came down this last election, that it all matters. It’s not just the presidential election that matters, which everybody gets their knickers in a twist about, I mean, it’s everything. You know, you could have a president that represents your beliefs but if either one of the houses have beliefs that you disagree with them you’re screwed.
You told me earlier that you plan to vote for Joe Biden in the November election. Can you explain why you chose to vote that way?
I feel as though in the current two-party system, a third party vote is to be used strictly for making a statement. Making a bold statement. And frankly the stakes are too fricking high and I feel as though it needs to be a landslide. It can’t be close because the stakes are too high and the results being challenged is too possible; so that’s number one. That’s kind of the negative reason. And then I actually do have a positive reason for voting for Biden even though an allegation of sexual misconduct just turns my stomach and I wish he wasn’t a candidate for that reason. But there is a positive reason for me voting for Biden and it’s that especially with everything that’s happened in the last four years and if I’m being honest the last four months, this country is so broken. I mean, we’re so battered. It’s kind of like the way it was in ‘68 or in the early sixties when we lost JFK and then we lost Robert Kennedy and then we lost Martin Luther King [Jr.] and Medgar Evers and, I mean, there was just so much shit going on. So now, I feel like we need someone who makes a clear example of listening to both sides. I think that’s half the problem, we’re yelling at each other so loud that nobody is listening to anybody and because he does have a reputation for being someone who compromises…. But I guess I’m voting for Biden partly because I think if there’s ever a time that we need someone who can listen to both sides and help them know that their opinions are valued, [it’s now]. So that’s my reason for not voting for a third party candidate. I think it’s too important and I think there are actually things that only Joe Biden could do.
Interviewer: Rory Smith
Interviewee: Paul Smith
Relationship: Father
What was your first voting experience?
I voted for George McGovern in 1972, in the national election against…um, who…ah, Richard Nixon.
Was there ever an election you missed, intentionally or unintentionally?
Nope, I have never missed an election.
Not even like a midterm?
I don’t think so, not that I’m aware of. If it was time to vote, I always tried to vote.
Did you ever regret a voting decision in retrospect?
Umm, no. I mean, I’ve always voted Democratic. When the Democrat won, I was happy, and when the Democrat lost I was sad, but I didn’t regret not voting for the candidate. What I will say is I take voting very seriously and I try to do my homework. What’s harder is with local elections, or county court justices, where they don’t run campaigns and you don’t know much about them. But when there is a race, like for president, Congress, or a local race like for mayor, or city council, I try to learn about people. And when I don’t, I kind of default-vote Democratic.
What were your thoughts and feelings about getting the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) passed?
Well, it should’ve been passed 40 years ago. It’s a shame that it hasn’t. I don’t know why it hasn’t. Well, I do know why it hasn’t--it’s that there are some states, even today, that are still living in like the 1940s intellectually. It’s really ridiculous. They tend to be conservative, they tend to be southern or midwestern. The coasts, and especially the big cities, are typically for it, and everybody should be for it.
What were your thoughts and feelings about Second Wave Feminism?
I thought it was completely justified and warranted. I supported it across the board. All the people who were “names,” I respected them a lot: Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, Gloria Steinem, and Shirley Chisholm, especially, she was very impressive.
At that time, everybody was getting somewhat politicized. I had this job at the Port Authority to buy all the newspapers and cut out all the stories about the Massachusetts Port Authority. I got educated that way, by reading four newspapers a day, learning about Vietnam, feminism, civil rights, so I was kind of politicized that way. Now, I was not politicized into being an activist, per se, I was politicized just into being a discerning voter, and somebody who could speak, I think, with some depth about these issues.
Do you consider yourself an activist now?
Um, you know, a little bit. During the Trump administration, I’ve been to about six demonstrations or protests. When I was in college, we were all sort of activists by default when we went on strike because they cancelled all the classes but they kept the campus open, and you were supposed to come everyday to have conversations with students and faculty about civil rights, about women’s rights, about Vietnam. The school set it up, the directive was for people to talk to each other and learn so everyone learns from each other, and the conversations should be about the war, about the government killing college students, not to mention putting soldiers in harm’s way. So, everybody was talking about this stuff.
Shoutout to SATA
On July 15th, the Student Association of Theatre Arts hosted a community event over zoom for current students and alumni to come discuss and receive updates on the response of the faculty and administration to the various complaints and accounts of racism within the department.
Many students and alumni tuned in with their crafting projects to discuss their frustration and hopes for the future.
At this time, the student body is demanding that the Theatre Arts department remove the faculty members who have caused the most damage and start taking immediate steps to amend the situation as well as diversify the pool of instructors to match the diversity of the students.
A big thank you goes out to the leaders at the head of this conversation for continuing the dioalogue and keeping the student body informed.
Feminist Theatre Makers, in conjunction with the other student organizations, pledges to continue to push for social equality within and without the department walls and to continue the important conversation that has been brought to the forefront this summer. Our group exists in order to question outdated practices and defend the rights of the students whose rights need defending. We stand with SATA. We stand with our BIPOC peers. We stand for justice and the right to unprejudiced education for all.
Comments